Brno Superbike Results: Czech Republic

The World Superbike Championship in Brno saw Max Biaggi and his V4 Aprilia Alitalia motorcycle move an impressive 68 points clear of his nearest racing challenger after two 20-lap races held in hot and steamy conditions in front of 64,000 fans in the Czech Republic.

Biaggi has now won ten races at Brno in all classes of competition, but today he had to share top billing with race one winner Jonathan Rea on his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR.

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The other World SBK podium places were shared by Cal Crutchlow in his Yamaha Sterilgarda R1 and Michel Fabrizio on his Ducati Xerox 1198R, but in the championship fight itself, the fate of Leon Haslam on his Suzuki Alstare GSXR-1000 in each race had the most effect.

Eighth in race one and tenth in race two for Leon put him on 284 points to Biaggi’s class-leading 352. Rea is now third on 203, Checa (Althea Ducati) is fourth on 189, after finishing ninth and sixth today.

WSBK Race 1

Rea ground out a great win, by 2.5 seconds from Biaggi’s Aprilia, putting himself back into the spotlight after some tough races in the past few weeks. His last podium before this had been at Kyalami, back in May.

Rea had been third on the grid, with Biaggi second and pole man Crutchlow rode hard and well to take third place. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki Alstare) equalled his best race finish of fourth, while Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) had his best result yet on his German machine, fifth.

Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), fast in early qualifying but 15th after Superpole, recovered well to go sixth, holding off James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda) who has been suffering from a chest infection at this race.

1st – Jonathan Rea: “At the start I didn’t really know what was going on but I ended up going to the front. This race win I’d like to dedicate to my team boss, Ronald ten Kate, who is not here with us this weekend. Today it was like out there on the bike I could do nothing wrong, now I’ll go back to the guys and prepare a better bike for race 2 and see what we can do. I just had to capitalize on Max’s weaknesses in some corners, it was a really difficult race out there and very hot.

2nd – Max Biaggi: “We came here on Friday and we didn’t really have the same feeling as I had last year so we tried to set up the bike as close as last year’s machine. Basically we improved, but my feeling was not great. Unfortunately this weekend has been like this, but we will make some modifications for race 2 and hopefully there will be some surprises.”

3rd – Cal Crutchlow: “To say I’m disappointed is probably an understatement. I went into the race with high hopes, the grip yesterday was really good for us and in the heat but as you saw we were struggling with rear grip from the start. Johnny rode fantastic and rode away from me, and also Max. I tried my best and that’s all I can do.”

Biaggi found the last one percent of speed he was missing in race one to record his ninth win of the season, giving him a 50% win ratio so far. Rea was an early leader but finally finished a clear second, 4.6 seconds behind the Italian, after Max eased past, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) third, the only Ducati podium spot of the day.

Two-times champion Toseland made a great recovery from 12th on lap one to fourth, catching and passing Haga with one lap to go.

Checa was sixth, Guintoli seventh and Biaggi’s team-mate Leon Camier eighth. Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati) got ninth, one place up on the luckless Haslam, who now goes to his home race of Silverstone to try and claw back points from Biaggi.

Cal Crutchlow pitted to change a rear tyre in race two, and when he went back out he set a new lap record in race conditions, with a 1’59.291.

1st – Max Biaggi: “Knowing the track quite well here and the passion of the fans in the Czech Republic, we tried something really special and made some changes on the bike, weight distribution and gearbox and the result was very good so I’m happy. For me it’s the tenth victory here, and this is my second home country. I love this place!”

2nd – Jonathan Rea: “Max did an unbelievable pace, I know how hard it was to hold on to second and he was going away from us, but anyway it’s been a good weekend with a 1-2 today. Thanks for all my team for digging deep this weekend and giving me a package that I could race with.”

3rd – Michel Fabrizio: “I hope I can continue this way for the rest of the season, we did a very good result in race 2 especially after the problem I had in the first race. I had to defend my position of course in the battle with Xaus but I’m pleased to be back on the podium again.”

A fabulous win for Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) saw him hold off long time race leader Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com) by only 0.124 seconds after 18 laps of close action, conducted in hot temperatures. With Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) not finishing, Sofuoglu now has 183 points, Lascorz 168 and Laverty 161. Third today was ParkinGO Triumph BE-1 rider, Chaz Davies, with Gino Rea (Intermoto Czech Honda) fourth, with each of those two riders suffering technical issues that held back their final race times.

Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia STK) had to work until the very last corner of the 12-lap Superstock race but he still took his sixth win in six races to lead the championship on a perfect 150 points. He was hit from behind early in the race by Maxime Berger (Ten Kate Junior Race Honda) but held on to win by only 0.286 seconds from Ducati rider Lorenzo Zanetti (SS Lazio Motorsport) who was competing in his first full status Superstock FIM Cup race. Andrea Antonelli (Team Lorini Honda) was third after Sylvain Barrier (Garnier Racing BMW) fell near the end.

Giorgio Barbier (Racing Director, Pirelli Moto) says: “The scorching heat of the Automotodrom Brno presented an adequate challenge for Pirelli’s race tyre solutions, with asphalt temperatures reaching as much as 57°C (135°F) during Race 2. The majority of the grid adopted the reference medium-soft ‘B’ front along with a new soft ‘A’ rear performance solution developed in testing sessions just two weeks ago.”

“This combination was notably successful in Superbike Race 1 for Suzuki Alstare rider Sylvain Guintoli, who tied his best result of the year (4th – Australia) in Race 1, while BMW rider Reuben Xaus had his best result ever on the S1000RR with a fifth place. A fourth win of the year for Rea (Honda) and a return to the podium for Fabrizio (Ducati) gave additional testimony to the new soft solution compound, event considering the incredible heat.”

“A new Superpole time of 1’58.018 was set by Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) in the final session, a blazing pace which was duplicated again in Race 2 of SBK when he set a new lap record of 1’59.291. An incredible battle between Sofuoglu (Honda) and Lascorz offered an excellent demonstration of the new ‘A’ soft compound Diablo Supercorsa, with Lascorz recording the fastest time on lap 16 of 20, crossing the finish line just 0.1 secs behind the new championship leader.”

“The 4,200 Pirelli tyre supplied for the weekend consisted of 4 front and 4 rear Diablo Superbike solutions in the SBK class, three of which are new for Brno, along with 3 front and 2 rear Diablo Supercorsa solutions in the Supersport class.”

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